Moab

A couple weeks ago, I went with two of my good friends to Arches National Park, and I miss it already. I haven't been there since I was about 8, so it was great to go again and see the incredible sights. It all lives up to the hype everyone says about it. Some of our cooking attempts were rather interesting, but it all worked out. What's camping without a few mishaps and adventures? The first food challenge was on day one during dinner: how to get our coals lit with 50 mph gusts and a dollar store lighter (never again). Hmm...but somehow we managed. The next interesting thing was figuring cooking on the portable stove. We couldn't figure out if it was actually lit since there seemed to be no flame, but we gave it a whirl, and when the pan started to immediately get hot, there must be a flame, yes? Overall though, we did great planning, especially considering that this was our first 3-day excursion planned only by the three of us. Hats off to us and our successes and our memorable trial and error moments. The weather was great temperature-wise (since Moab during June is usually near 100, but we managed to only get 82 or so as a high), but the winds were BRUTAL the first day. Still, I'd rather be trying to not get blown away then feel like I was melting into the rocks from heat stroke. It was amazing though how thrashed we felt after those winds, and I mean that quite literally.

Megan has set up a tent in the past, but neither Arien nor I had ever set up a tent, so we decided to do a test-run in my apartment living room. Thank goodness we did. Setting it up wasn't bad at all, but it gave me a lot more confidence to know how everything works.

Wow. We had winds up to 60 mph. NUTS (hence the crazy hair--and so much for bobby pins, which turned out nearly useless). All three of us had to brace ourselves, because we had some gusts so strong that we literally almost fell over. I've never experienced wind like that! It was too scary to go right over to Delicate Arch itself with winds that high, but some people were brave (*cough* dumb *cough*) and went and stood under the arch.

You can definitely tell which days were clear and which were dusty just by the shots. The wind could be refreshing at some points and overpowering at others!

Gotta love that even in the incredibly harsh desert, there can still be flowers blooming from the unforgiving, prickly cactus.

On the hike to Corona's Arch, we had to climb a ladder that's been put there permanently. At another point use a steel rope to help hoist us up the steep slope. Either one of those things would have been awesome, but having both made it a wickedly awesome hike.

A train that cuts through the canyon like that? Can you say "cool"? We even got to see the train itself go through. Woot woot (or maybe choo choo, wow that's the kind of post you get when you get "tipsy" from a cold)!

My favorite shot from the trip (thanks Megan).

I wish we were back there now. I'm so glad we went, and I'm so grateful for such solid friends who would go with me. There's just nothing like getting out into nature and letting the sun soak into your skin and to have a miracle made by nature everywhere you turn. There's nothing like a shower after dust molds itself to your skin either, haha, but totally worth it. God's world certainly is great.